COALA IP Protocol

Trent McConaghyCOALA IP Working Group (and BigchainDB | IPDB)

Goals

● A licensing framework for digital assets that:○ Is easily approachable by all participants (devs, rights

holders, copyright societies, …)○ Is easily extensible and future-proof○ Guarantees immutability and tamper-resistance○ Is blockchain-agnostic○ Is free (free as in FOSS) for everyone to participate

and use

History● COALA - organize blockchain workshops & working groups.

Meet 3-4 times per year.● COALA IP working group started in fall 2015● Contributors from COALA, IPFS, Ujo / Consensys, Mycelia,

ascribe / BigchainDB, Synereo, mediachain, more. ○ Relations with Copyright Hub, Open Music Initiative,

many blockchain IP startups○ Bolt into Ethereum, IPFS, IPDB (public BigchainDB)

● Mantra: invent as little as possible, reuse well-considered building blocks

Building blocks

● LCC framework, it’s concise and applicable○ Generalizes DDEX (music), PLUS (photos), more○ By Copyright Hub with 90 partner orgs

● Linked Data, it’s easily extensible○ JSON-LD: URI-linking of JSON objects

● IPLD, for cryptographically verifiable integrity○ Via Merkle-linking of JSON objects

● Interledger Protocol, allows IP to live on many ledgers○ Linking of ordered transactions on blockchains

The LCC Framework

A standard that generalizes existing, widely used IP standards, including DDEX (music), PLUS (photos)

Documentation:

● LCC Ten Targets for a Rights Network● LCC Principles of Identification● LCC Entity Model (short: LCC EM)● LCC Rights Reference Model (short: LCC RRM)

The LCC Rights Reference Model

● Represent IP rights digitally

● Data model on top of the LCC EM

⇒ 7 (main) entities

IPLD

● Merkle-linking JSON objects○ Cryptographic integrity-checking of data

● Merkle-paths JSON objects○ Content-addressable data/storage

IPLD: Merkle-Linking exampleimport ipld

In [2]: person = {

...: "givenName": "Andy",

...: "familyName": "Warhol",

...: "birthDate": "1928-08-06"

...: }

In [3]: serialized_person = ipld.marshal(person) # serialize using CBOR

Out[3]: b'\xa3ibirthDatej1928-08-06jfamilyNamefWarholigivenNamedAndy'

In [4]: ipld.multihash(serialized_person) # hash CBOR value and get a hash digest

Out[4]: ‘QmRinxtytQFizqBbcRfJ3i1ts617W8AA8xt53DsPGTfisC’

Linked Data:Resource Description Framework (short: RDF)

● A way to express assertions in a schematic way

Linked Data: JSON-LD

● A data structure to serialize RDF in JSON{

"@type": "http://schema.org/Person",

"@id": "http://example.com/data/AndyWarhol",

"givenName": "Andy",

"familyName": "Warhol",

}

http://example.com/data/AndyWarhol

http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type

http://schema.org/Person .

Useful RDF schemata● LCC RRM Party:

○ schema.org/Person○ schema.org/Organization

● LCC RRM Creation:○ schema.org/CreativeWork○ And its subtypes: Book, Movie, MusicComposition

● LCC RRM Place:○ schema.org/Place

● LCC RRM Assertion:○ schema.org/AssessAction○ Additionally: Web of Trust Ontology

Interledger Protocol (ILP)

● A standard in progress as a W3C Community Group● To connect many blockchains / ledgers for transfer of value● Crypto-conditions: building blocks of crypto primitives

○ Includes multisig, escrow but not loops, recursion

Connector

ESCROW

EXECUTION

Bringing it together: COALA IP Protocol

● A community-driven minimum-viable set of data for IP licensing (RDF schema definitions, JSON-LD)

● A free and open messaging protocol for license-transactions (LCC, Interledger, IPLD)

COALA IP: Place{

"@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Place>" },

"geo": {

"@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of GeoCoordinates>" },

"latitude": "40.75",

"longitude": "73.98"

},

"name": "Empire State Building"

}

COALA IP: Party (only Individual){

"@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Individual>" },

"givenName”: “Andy”,

“familyName”: “Warhol”,

“birthDate”: “1928-08-06”,

“deathDate”: “1987-02-22”

// and any other arbitrary meta data

// TDB: Let’s use an established identity protocol here

}

COALA IP: Creation{

"@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Creation>" },

"name”: “Lord of the Rings”,

“author”: { "/": "<hash pointing to the Author>" }

}

COALA IP: Creation (a digital Manifestation){ "@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Manifestation>" },

"name": "The Fellowship of the Ring",

"creation": { "/": "<hash pointing to the Creation>" },

"digital_work": { "/": "<hash pointing to a file on e.g. IPFS>" },

"fingerprints": [

"Qmbs2DxMBraF3U8F7vLAarGmZaSFry3vVY5zytuN3BxwaY",

"<multihash/multifingerprint value>"

],

"locationCreated": "<URI pointing to a Place object>"

}

COALA IP: Creation (a physical Manifestation){ "@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Manifestation>" },

"name": "The Fellowship of the Ring",

"creation": { "/": "<hash pointing to the Creation>" },

"datePublished": "29-07-1954",

"locationCreated": "<URI pointing to a Place object>"

}

COALA IP: Right{ "@type": { "/": "<hash pointing to RDF-Schema of Right>" },

“usages”: “all|copy|play|stream|...”,

“territory”: { “/”: “<hash pointing to a Place>” },

“context”: “inflight|inpublic|commercialuse…”,

“exclusive”: true|false,

...

"manifestation": { "/": "<hash pointing to the Manifestation>" },

"license": { "/": "<hash pointing to the License>" }

}

COALA IP: RightsAssignment

● A special case: RightsAssignments must be stored in an ordered fashion

● Store on an Interledger Protocol compliant ledger● Provenance of assets (chain of events)● True ownership of assets (priv and pub key)● Enhanced transfers (escrowed, multi-sig)

COALA IP: AssertionIndividual: “Andy Warhol”

Creation: “32 Campbell’s Soup Cans”

Manifestation: “32 Campbell’s Soup Cans” Poster

Right: License Manifestation under License “X”

Organization: “MoMA, NYC”

Creation: “The Scream”

Assertion: “Incorrect!”Assertion: “Correct!”

authorauthor

toAsserttoAssert

manifestation

creationauthor

author

Summary● Goal is licensing framework for digital assets

○ Using previous building blocks as much as possible● COALA IP Protocol is

○ A minimum-viable set of data for IP licensing (RDF schema definitions, JSON-LD)

○ A free and open messaging protocol for license-transactions (Interledger, IPLD, LCC)

● A community is defining, refining and deploying it○ Into Ethereum, IPFS, IPDB (public BigchainDB) networks